CAD, BIM & 3D

Disclaimer : I received an offer from Packt Publishing to review the book “ 3D Printing with SketchUp ”, written by Marcus Ritland. Packt Publishing is a print-on-demand service, from which I already bought several books, ebooks and for whom I also authored my Unity for Architectural Visualization book and the Building an Architectural Walkthrough with Unity video course. I received this eBook version free of charge, but the review is solely my own, personal opinion. About 3D Printing There has been a rise of attention to 3D printing, especially with more accessible printing facilities, such as Shapeways or i.Materialise (which is only 10 minutes by bike from where I work), but also with cheaper 3D printing hardware, that you can even order as a pre-assembled kit or to build from (almost) scratch. On the other hand, where you needed to rely on more traditional CAD software, such as Rhinoceros, AutoCAD or MCAD software, most current CAD and even BIM software support the STL file forma...

When looking at the Graphisoft site, in the list of books, I’m always disappointed by the lack of ArchiCAD specific books. There are a few mentioned, but they are for older versions, usually (down to version 9 still, which is when the whole Publishing workflow was still in the external PlotMaker software). This is not usable today. The first book in the list, however, was a recent eBook, by Nicola Petkovic: it consist of 4 separate books. And that is what I’ll discuss in this blogpost. Master Class - Step by step guidebook You can order them separately or as a bundle, with discount. There is also the option to buy it as a hard-copy. Masterclass 1 (beginners level) - basics, tools (wall, slab, door, window, stair…), Priority-Based Connections, editing, basic floor plans and layout… Appendix 1 for Master Class 1 (Intermediate level) - plan & layout, building materials & PBE, window- and door markers, 3D sections/cutaway, Zone tool in 2D and 3D Appendix 2 for Master Class 2 (Inter...

This is a loaded topic. Every time people start to compare Mac and PCs or ArchiCAD and Revit, they start arguing. My point is merely making a neutral overview over the most important new features from both applications and how they compare to what is missing in the other or what has been available already. As an ArchiCAD user, I have to admit I’m more experienced with ArchiCAD but I have used Revit, took classes and know a thing or two (three… four) about CAD and BIM software from my years of experience. So I don’t apologise, but rather feel that I have something to say about it. By the way, this post has also been included with CAD Digest Selection. Autodesk Revit 2015 Graphisoft ArchiCAD 18 Existing/ Updated : Integration of Mental Ray rendering and Cloud-based external rendering New : CineRender Rendering engine based on Cinema4D After the old Accurender was replaced with Mental Ray, Revit gained the same rendering quality and materials as AutoCAD, 3ds Max and M...

I have recently completed a video course on the use of Unity in architectural visualisation. This course has almost 3 hours of content and is available from Packt Publishing. More information and ordering Some words about what I find important in this course (and I'm seriously biased, as the author). Small, easy-to-digest modules Starting from the provided templates, I was tasked to follow a very strict format: small videos of about 3 to 5 minutes, 5 videos in a section and 8 sections in total. There was also a quite strict content format to follow: title, content, actual tutorial section (including problem and solution) and than a summary in the end. While this restricts a bit the amount of information you can cram into the timeslot, it ensures that the learning outcomes are clear and focused. On the plus side, the educational quality of the end result improved considerably. On the minus side, the amount of topics that could be handled and their depth was limited. It...